To-die-for Pork Ribs recipe with fall apart meat slathered in a sticky homemade barbecue sauce! These oven Pork Ribs are rubbed with a spice mix, slow cooked until fall-apart-tender then basted generously with the tangy, sweet sauce. Can’t-stop-eating it, finger-licking’ good!
This is a reader-favourite recipe included by popular demand in my debut cookbook “Dinner”!
Pork Ribs recipe
If you nibble daintily at a rib, holding it delicately between 2 fingers, and wipe your fingers clean with linen napkins, you and I will probably never be friends.
If you grab them with your hands, devour with gusto, get sauce all over your mouth, smearing up towards your cheekbones, then drop the bones sucked dry of every fibre of meat and sauce so they clatter dramatically on your plate, then noisily suck each and every one of your fingers clean of all that sticky barbecue sauce….
….if that’s you, then you are my kind of people.
And welcome to the pork ribs of your dreams!
These oven baked pork ribs recipe are:
super easy
the meat is tender
ribs are infused with flavour from a rub AND braising the ribs in apple cider;
finished with a simple but incredibly tasty homemade barbecue sauce.
These Oven Pork Ribs are fall apart tender and slathered with an incredible homemade barbecue sauce!
How to make Oven Pork Ribs
Here’s how I make pork ribs in the oven. There’s a few key things here:
Rub for the pork ribs – to add flavour;
Liquid for cooking – this is a key step for this pork ribs recipe! It creates a steamy situation while the ribs slow cook in the oven to keep them nice and juicy. My liquid of choice is alcoholic apple cider (also known as hard apple cider) because as with many things, alcohol adds extra layers of flavour. But there’s loads of other options: beer, apple juice, broth or even water;
Homemade barbecue sauce – Ribs are a bit of an occasion around these parts so using store bought Barbecue Sauce doesn’t even cross my mind. It’s also one of those sauces that’s astonishingly simple to make at home and really is that much better than store bought because it tastes pure and real and doesn’t have that slight artificial edge of store bought. Try it once and you’ll be converted for life!
Baste, bake, baste, bake! The more you baste-bake, the better your sticky barbecue sauce coating on the ribs.
Type of ribs to use
Oven Pork Ribs are ideal for Baby Back and St Louis Style Pork Ribs. It will also work for Pork Spareribs but the oven cook time should be reduced by 20 minutes (as they are less meaty).
🇦🇺In Australia, we do not (yet!) distinguish between various cuts of pork ribs (most are a Baby Back / St Louis style hybrid or they are very skimpy Spare Ribs). There’s also a great deal of inconsistency with how pork ribs are cut between butchers and the big grocery chains (Costco, Aldi, Woolies, Coles).
Just look for meaty pork ribs that are nice an fatty. Avoid the ribs that are cut so close to the bone on both sides there’s barely any meat – miserable eating experience plus it’s criminal to pay for 70% bone!
What you need for Oven Pork Ribs with Barbecue Sauce
And here’s what you need. Nothing unique here, except perhaps the molasses in the barbecue sauce.
I can’t remember where I first saw it, but I added it to my barbecue sauce once then I never looked back. It adds colour and intensity of flavour that can’t be replicated! Truly worth using if you can get your hands on it. If not, don’t fret – substitute with golden syrup or use dark brown sugar instead of normal brown sugar. Similar result!
Barbecue Sauce for Pork Ribs
The barbecue sauce in this recipe is used for both glazing and serving. It is literally a plonk and simmer job. Low maintenance and effortless, and really tastes of pure flavour compared to store bought (says she who has done side-by-side taste testing!).
It will look like we’re making a LOT, with the recipe calling for 1 1/2 cups of ketchup. But trust me when I say you want to have more rather than too little. There’s nothing worse than being stingy when glazing the ribs – you want to slather generously with abundance without worrying about saving some for serving!
(PS And if you’re a sticky BBQ Sauce lover, try this BBQ Brisket and BBQ Beef Ribs next…)
What to serve with Pork Ribs
In the spirit of a Southern barbecue feast, serve up your sticky oven pork ribs with a side of Macaroni Salad and corn on the cob (try the most amazing GRILLED Buttered Corn!).
Other favourites include:
Potato Salad – Classic creamy Potato Salad or for lighter options, no-mayo Lemon Potato Salad and Red Potato Salad with Charred Corn and Bacon
Corn Bread or Corn Bread Muffins (or try these Cheese Muffins)
And for something fresh, try this Tomato, Corn and Avocado Salad or a cooling German Cucumber Salad.
This is a forgiving pork ribs recipe – and it’s loaded with plenty of flavour!
As long as you get nice juicy, fatty ribs (which they typically are), it will be pretty hard to stuff this recipe up! Ribs are a tough cut of meat so they’re made for slow cooking until it’s nice and tender.
It’s quite forgiving with the cook time, unlike some other types of proteins like poultry. So even if you cook it 30 minutes too long, it will still be juicy and delicious.
There is simply no way to look elegant eating pork ribs. Just accept you will have very sticky fingers, sauce smeared on your face and a huge goofy grin! -Nagi x
Watch how to make it
This is a reader-favourite recipe included by popular demand in my debut cookbook “Dinner”!
More rib recipes
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Oven Pork Ribs with Barbecue Sauce
Ingredients
Barbecue Rub for Ribs:
- 2.5 tsp paprika powder
- 2 tsp garlic powder (sub with onion powder)
- 1.5 tsp onion powder (sub with garlic powder)
- 1 tsp cayenne pepper (omit for not spicy)
- 1.5 tsp dried thyme
- 1.5 tsp dried oregano
- 1.5 tsp salt
- 0.5 tsp black pepper
Ribs
- 2 – 2.5kg / 4 – 5lb pork ribs (2 racks)
- 3/4 cup sweet alcoholic apple cider (hard cider) , or apple juice (Note 2)
- 1 tbsp olive oil
Homemade Barbecue Sauce
- 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar (Note 3)
- 1 1/2 cups tomato ketchup (or Aussie tomato sauce)
- 1/2 cup water (or use remaining apple cider!)
- 1 1/2 tbsp molasses , orginal (not blackstrap, Note 4)
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 2 tsp mustard powder
- 1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp Tabasco or cayenne pepper (optional, for spiciness)
Instructions
- Combine the Rub ingredients and rub onto both sides of the ribs (most on meaty side). Set aside to marinate for 20 minutes (or overnight).
- Preheat oven to 160°C/320°F (all oven types).
- Place ribs on a tray in a single layer. Pour apple cider underneath the ribs, cover with foil then bake for 1 hour 30 minutes or until the meat is pretty tender (Note 5).
- Remove from oven, turn up to 180°C/350°F. Remove foil, drizzle with olive oil, then return ribs to oven for 15 minutes or until rub becomes nice and crusty.
- Line a new tray with foil then baking / parchment paper (you'll thank me later).
- Remove ribs from oven, transfer to lined tray. Pour any juices from tray over the ribs.
- Flip ribs so the bonier side is up. Slather with Barbecue Sauce, then bake 10 minutes.
- Remove from oven, then turn ribs over so the meaty side is up. Slather with Barbecue Sauce, bake 5 minutes. Repeat 2 or 3 more times until you've got a thick glaze on the ribs.
- Cut ribs into individual or multiple rib portions and serve with remaining Barbcue Sauce!
Barbecue Sauce
- Place all ingredients in a saucepan and simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 45 minutes or until thickened.
- Adjust to taste: sweetness with brown sugar / honey, salt and sour with vinegar. Use for glazing ribs and as a sauce for serving.
Recipe Notes:
- Follow recipe to end of Step 4 (ie 2nd baked uncovered to make Rub crusty)
- Brush bony side of ribs with sauce, then cook on BBQ indirect heat on high (bony side up) with lid down for 5 minutes.
- Flip so meaty side is up, baste, cook with lid down for 5 minutes. Repeat 3 times until you have a nice caramelised glaze!
Nutrition Information:
Pork ribs recipe originally published January 2016. Updated August 2019 with new photos, improved recipe, brand new video and new Life of Dozer section added!
Life of Dozer
He doesn’t need a 4 leaf clover for luck. He was BORN lucky….. at least, from the moment he became MINE!! #spoiltbrat #wantfornothing #PrinceDozer
I made this before and everyone loves it?
Here are my question? Isn’t fine if chicken wings instead of pork ribs?
Cooked these Pork Ribs for dinner tonight and they were absolutely the best we’ve ever had. My husband couldn’t stop licking his fingers.
Delicious. Cooked this for the family, received a comment that this was “finger licking good”. I actually had 4 pieces of ribs, so had two trays in the oven. Worked out fine. I sadly ran out of tomato sauce so my homemade BBQ sauce batch wasn’t a lot.. so I ended up using bottled BBQ sauce for second coat basting and serving.. still delicious, but I’m sure it will be better the second time I make this with a lot more of that homemade BBQ sauce goodness! Thanks Nagi for another brilliant recipe.
Saturday night dinner…pork ribs. Made exactly as Nagi wrote…with home made bbq sauce with macaroni salad and tomato, corn and avocado salad. A lot of work for me but well worth it just for the looks of enjoyment on family faces..and bbq sauce smiles smeared across their faces. Does life get better than this…well yes, yes it does, Sunday dinner, Beef Rib roast. Thank you Nagi…you have taught me to cook.
Another fantastic tin eats meal. Followed these instructions and had tender, tasty ribs – pretty easy but great end result, thanks Nagi
My store carries Dry Mustard Powder $$ and Ground Mustard Powder $.
Which should I use?
Nagi, thank you thank you thank you for this recipe. absolutely divine, easy and will definately be on repeat. Infact you are my ‘go to’ site and deleted heaps of others. Even my son whose a chef gave it 10/10. Wooo hoo
Why are the instructions for cooking the bbq sauce all the way down the bottom with no mention of it during the other steps?? 😱😱😱 hopefully it tastes ok just slathering it on top without simmering it down 😭
Hi Sarah, sorry that’s just the way it’s written – usually, I’ll read a new recipe in it’s entirely before cooking so I know all the steps and what I’ll need to do! N x
Best recipe,, this will be the staple recipe for Pork Ribs here after ..😉😉 love it !!
I’ve been returning to this recipe for a while now. And it’s always super moist and tasty. Thanks for another winner, Nagi.
Hi Nagi. These ribs are the bestest! Our group of friends have asked me to cook these for our first post lockdown meal together. (We have not been able to meet socially for nearly 5 months now). May that day come soon. 😏
Hi Can I ask what’s the subtitute for mollases?
Hi Manilyn, treacle is the closest, but you could use honey or maple syrup too. N x
Fantastic made these yesterday and by far the best I have ever made. Nagi, your the best every dish I have made from you has been a winner… what would I do without you
Thank you 🙏
Hi nagi . I’ve make this for dinner and everyone said it’s very nice . Thank you so much for the recipe . And also I wanted to ask if this recipe goes well if I used beef ribs ?? Spare ribs to be exact not the short ribs kind
Hope I can get your answer. Thanks 😊
Do you place the ribs in the cider liquid or on a rack above the liquid?
Hi Courtney, you’re pouring the sauce around the ribs, see the video for tips here 🙂 N x
The ribs turned out moist and tender. Love it. I doubled the amount of brown sugar in the sauce recipe and added 1/4 cup of jack daniel 😊 super yumm!
Great idea Yossita! N x
Hi Nagi, I want to make these for a party, is it possible to do the main cooking part on the previous day, then pop them in the oven and do the BBQ sauce cooking on the next day? BTW, love your website it is my one stop shop for everything.
Yes 100% Natascha!! N x
Hi Nagi, I have made these ribs many times now and they never disappoint. I also made the Mac & cheese tonight as a side, absolutely fantastic. I am also sharing your website with many of my family and friends as they love everything that I make from your blog. Your recipes are amazing. I too have goldens a boy and a girl and they love your food too….
Talk about blow your hair back… without a doubt this is the best rib recipe ever…bravo Nagi ..,served the ribs with roasted sweet potatoes and corn it is a knockout recipe
Hi Nagi,
we are a RTE family and have tried so many of your recipes- we love them! I’m just wondering, I have spare ribs that are loose (aka not a rack of ribs). Is it still ok to make the same way with the reduced oven time?
thank you!